capricafandomcom-20200214-history
Sexuality
In the Colonial Worlds, homosexuality, bisexuality and polygamy have never been stigmatized and are completely accepted and legal. They are normal expressions of the spectrum of sexuality in this society. The sexual orientation phobias in our world would be a complete mystery to them. The Colonial worlds are sexuality-neutral. Homosexuality The Caprica mythos is primarily based on the societies of Ancient Greece and Rome in which Homosexuality was accepted. The word "homophobia" would not even exist in the Colonial lexicon. Jane Espenson, Executive Producer and a writer on Caprica, is quoted as saying, "Look at the Romans and the Greeks. Perfectly thriving, perfectly mature cultures with religion in it, and it didn't have a stigma against gay relationships. In fact, those were considered the true love relationships that were exalted. The relationship between a man and woman was more procreatory, but the true love that inspires you to write poetry was not that." (1) Example Sam Adama and Larry Sasha Roiz, one of the series regulars, portrays Sam Adama, a gay Ha'la'tha enforcer. He is married to a man named Larry. They have a stable and happy home life. Sam immigrated to Caprica City with his brother, Joseph, after they were orphaned on Tauron. He tells his nephew, William Adama, that all the Tauron kids hung out in Little Tauron. He said he would hopelessly flirt with a guy while his brother would get a date with the sister. Ronald D. Moore, Co-Creator and Executive Producer on Caprica, had this to say about Sam and Larry's first scene together in the commentary on the episode Reins of a Waterfall: "This was the first sort of scene of setting up really that Sam is married, married to another man. It was really important to me that they just be very matter-of-fact. That the universe that we create here was not only gender-neutral, but essentially sexuality-neutral. . . These people just don't give a shit who you sleep with and what you do with your junk...It's so besides the point of their lives. I just sort of thought that was. . . refreshing and let's just present it that way. This is not the first gay married couple. It's not the first mob gay married couple. They're just a married couple in the universe and I thought there was something freeing about simply presenting their life like that and just sort of doing it in a very off-handed way." (2) Other Examples Cerberus Cerberus is a cross-dressing entertainer avatar at the Mysteries Burlesque Club in the Virtual World game, New Cap City. During his routine, he shamelessly flirts with a man in the audience. Bisexuality Bisexuality is not explored in great detail in Caprica beyond the Willow group marriage. There is one scene in New Cap City which alludes to bisexuality: Chiron is the avatar of a powerful gamer in New Cap City. He flirts with a handsome young man as well as with beautiful young women in his favorite club on the lower east side. Polygamy Polygamy (and inferred by extension, Polyamory) is legal in Colonial society, and is accepted, at least in certain parts of society. Clarice Willow's group marriage is introduced in the episode, Rebirth. She is married to at least three wives and four husbands: Mar-Beth, Desiree, Helena, Nestor, Tanner, Olaf and Rashawn. All members of the marriage adopted Desiree's last name, Willow. Clarice says she is not married to all of these people. Some of them are just friends. There are others, like Phoebe, who are part of the group marriage, although their spouses are not specified in the dialogue. In the episode Gravedancing, there is a scene of Clarice, Nestor, Olaf and Desiree in bed together. Jonas Pate comments on the podcast for this scene, "So this is a group marriage scene that we're all talking about where we see. . . polygamy is not a big deal. . . in certain parts of Caprica." (3) Jane Espenson, who wrote the Gravedancing episode, explains in her commentary, "I love that transition to. . . this two couples in bed scene, which I was actually kind of shocked we got away with. . . I thought it was very important that if we're going to sell this group marriage, we've got to see it being a group marriage, not just looking like a bunch of people living in a student co-op together. . . I was very surprised we got away with that." (4) References 1. Jane Espenson quotes at the Internet Movie Database (retrieved on October 30, 2017). 2. "Reins of a Waterfall." Caprica: Season 1.0, created by Ronald D. Moore and Remi Aubuchon, commentary by director Ronald D. Moore, episode 103, Syfy, 2010, disc two, 41:57-42:40. 3. "Gravedancing." Caprica: Season 1.0, created by Ronald D. Moore and Remi Aubuchon, commentary by Executive Producer and writer of the episode, Jane Espenson, episode 104, Syfy, 2010, disc three, 02:40-03:04. 4. "Gravedancing." Caprica: Season 1.0, created by Ronald D. Moore and Remi Aubuchon, podcast by Executive Producer David Eick, Producing Director Jonas Pate, and series regulars Paula Malcomson and Sasha Roiz, episode 104, Syfy, 2010, disc three, 03:00-03:08. Category:Themes